Laderman, Manuel

English

University of Denver

Denver Law Review Volume 38 Issue 1 Article 6 April 2021 Book Review: Felix Frankfurter Reminisces Manuel Laderman Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/dlr Recommended Citation Manuel Laderman, Book Review: Felix Frankfurter Reminisces, 38 Dicta 56 (1961). This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Denver Law Review at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Denver Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact jennifer.cox@du.edu,dig-commons@du.edu. JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1961which they may learn in depth and breadth the historical and so-cial source and significance of many of today's legal decisions andregulatory practides.Hamlet J. Barry, Jr.*FELIX FRANKFURTER REMINISCES. By Dr. Harlan B. Phillips."New York: Reynal and Co., 1960. Pp. 310. $5.00.In 1953 Professor Phillips began a series of recordings with Mr.Justice Frankfurter. These tape-recorded interviews, stimulated bythe provocative questions of Professor Phillips, evoked from theJustice some very revealing and human comments on the events inhis life up to the time he was appointed to the Supreme Court benchin 1939. It had been intended originally to postpone publication fora number of years. The Justice, however, was persuaded to allowpublication now when some of his incisive descriptions would bemuch more in point.Mr. Frankfurter has given us in this book some very interestingconversation, which tells us something of his life, his opinions, andhis considered reflections on the men whose lives touched his.Born in Vienna he came to New York with his parents at theage of twelve. He completed City College and then went on to Har-*Attorney at Low, Denver, Colorado.1 Professor in the Oral History Research Office, Columbia University.COLORADO BAR ASSOCIATIONLIFE INSURANCE PLANFor New MEMBERS:1. Excellent "low cost" life insurance protection2. Accidental Death (Double Indemnity) optional3. Waiver of Premium for Total and Permanent Disability4. Guaranteed convertibleNew members should contact THE W. E. MOORE AGENC901 Sherman Street, Denver 3, ColoradoDICTA!:Y,JA..UARY-FEBRUARY 1961vard Law School, which has become for him one of his demigods.In later years he tended to judge most people by whether they hadgone to Harvard.For only the briefest time after graduation from Law Schooldid he serve in a law firm. Otherwise, he has been engaged in serv-ing in governmental agencies on the federal level, teaching in Har-vard Law School, teaching at Oxford for a Sabbatical year, andserving on the Supreme Court during the last 21 years.One of his early heroes was Henry L. Stimson, who took himinto his office as United States Attorney, in the days when TeddyRoosevelt was in the White House. From Mr. Stimson he learnedgreat respect for the responsibility of a prosecutor, and avoided al-ways badgering and persecuting those who happened to be in theclutches of the law.During the First World War he served as law officer in the of-fice of the Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker, and had special re-sponsibilities whenever labor troubles developed. One member ofthat conciliation commission was Colorado's Verner Z. Reed. Mr.Frankfurter helped with a number of labor tensions throughout theWest which involved him in championing the cause of Tom Mooneyin the celebrated case that agitated California for many years.He was a disciple of Brandeis and Holmes in many ways. Hefollowed up the Brandeis Brief in the Muller case, of maximumhours of work for women, by arguing the Bunting case before theSupreme Court which contended the same thing for men. He wasalso associated with the Attorney General of Oregon in arguing theO'Hara and Stettler cases regarding minimum wages for women.These were all landmark cases in liberalizing the attitude of theCourt in social legislation.In the midst of the furor over the Sacco-Vanzetti case, JusticeFrankfurter wrote an article on their defense in the Atlantic Month-ly, which was later published in book form, that brought him intoopen opposition to President Lowell of Harvard, Dean Wigmore ofNorthwestern Law School and many others.He was offered and refused a position on the Supreme JudicialCourt of Massachusetts, and as Solicitor General of the UnitedStates. When President Franklin Roosevelt invited him to succeedJustice Cardoza on the Supreme Court he accepted readily. He at-tributed his ready acceptance to the timeliness of the appointment.It was 1939 and would be hailed throughout the world as an in-stance of America's democratic approach to a Jew.When he went on to the Court he was considered one of the-radicals. It is a remarkable commentary on the fast pace of oursociety that today he is one of the more conservative members ofour Supreme Tribunal.This book reads very easily. One has the delightful feeling oflistening to a great man talk, and of being both inspired and enter-tained. Dr. Manuel Laderman*-Rabbi of the Congregation Hebrew Educational Alliance, Denver, Colorado.DICTA

Book Review: Felix Frankfurter Reminisces

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Book Review: Felix Frankfurter Reminisces

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